Another Veracruz journalist shot as attacks soar around Mexico

A Mexican journalist was shot and injured early on Wednesday March 29 in the eastern state of Veracruz, the state attorney general’s office said, the latest in a spate of attacks against reporters in Mexico.

Reuters reported the 51-year-old news editor at La Opinion de Poza Rica, a newspaper in the violent oil-drilling city of Poza Rica in the drug-ravaged state, was shot outside his home early on Wednesday morning. The attorney general’s office in a statement identified him only as ‘A.A.G.’ but the State Commission for the Protection of Journalists named him as Armando Arrieta Granados.

The wounded editor is in hospital, the statement said, and local media said he was in “grave” condition. So far this month, three journalists have been killed across Mexico, which is grappling with rising crime.

Earlier in March, the Veracruz attorney general’s office said it was investigating the murder of journalist Ricardo Monlui, who was shot dead in the town of Yanga.

Veracruz is the most dangerous state in Mexico for journalists. The Committee to Protect Journalists said this month at least six reporters had been killed there for their work since 2010, while 10 more were killed in circumstances that have yet to be clarified.